Abstract: The invention relates to a motor vehicle (1) and, mainly a cabriolet-type vehicle, comprising at least one opening (3, 4) in which the opening and closing movements are activated by driving means controlled by a control unit, said opening (3, 4) having at least one inner surface turned towards a part of the vehicle (1) to be covered and at least one edge (10) situated facing an element of the body or a mobile part of said opening when the opening (3, 4) is in its closed position, characterised in that a pressure-sensitive tape, which can emit a signal according to said pressure, is placed on the inner surface next to said edge, said control unit being arranged so as to modify the kinematics of the movement according to the pressure signal measured during said movement.

Abstract: The invention relates to a retractable roof for a vehicle, comprising a rigid front roof element (5) and a rigid rear roof element (4). It comprises a rear roof element at the rear roof thereof, guided by a first sliding rail (8) which is connected to the structure (1) of the vehicle and the front part thereof which is coupled to a second sliding rail (13) cooperating with a manoevring arm (10) which is coupled to the structure of the vehicle and which is actuated by drive means (9); a rigid element (18) connects the rear part of the rear roof element; the rear part of the front roof element is guided by a third sliding rail and the front part is coupled to the arm; means (21-23) are provided to cause the front roof element to slide on the third sliding rail.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for protecting objects that are disposed in the rear trunk of a motor vehicle having a retractable roof. The device comprises a panel that is movable between a lowered position and a raised position, at least one sensor arranged to detect the position of said panel, releasable latches for locking the lid relative to the trunk, and a control unit for releasing said latches. The control unit releases the latches responsive to a command to move the roof or the lid of the trunk, and when the position of the panel as detected by the sensor is compatible with the movement requested. This enables the lid to open selectively from the front backwards or from the rear towards the front of the vehicle.

Abstract: An apparatus for and method of utilizing an internet terminal coupled to the world wide web to access an existing proprietary data base management system having a dialog-based request format. The user request is received by a web server from the world wide web and converted into one or more sequenced data base management commands stored as corresponding to the service request. If a particular service request requires access to secured data and/or services, the request may be granted in relationship to a particular user security profile. This security profile is determined through a special field indicative of the internet user transferred in conjunction with the service request.

Abstract: A test assembly for testing electrical performance of microcircuits contained in leadless packages has Kelvin contacts. Slider contacts in a plurality of contact assemblies slide compliantly to accommodate lack of coplanarity in terminals on the package. A resilient elastomeric block may be inserted through interior spaces of the contact assembly and in interfering relation with features of a housing that supports and aligns the contact assemblies, to apply force to the slider contacts to force them against the microcircuit terminals.

Abstract: A system (40) is provided for visible surface determination in furtherance of photorealistic rendering in a computer graphics environment. The system includes a scene database (42) and a processor, visual characteristics of objects of an image frame (44) of a scene of the scene database (42) are delimited as geometric primitive. The processor, for executing an interval analysis, to a user degree of certainty, accurately and deterministically ascertains a visible solution set of an area not exceeding a pixel dimension for a pixel of an array of pixels (50) that form said image frame (44).

Abstract: A non-invasive ocular therapy for vision disorders is provided. First and second electrodes of a direct current source are electrically contacted so as to deliver current to and/or about an area proximal one or more eyes of a subject. A direct electrical current of between about 1-800 microamps, at a resistance assumption of about 500 ohms, is generated between the electrodes for a preselected duration. Preferably, the direct electrical current is generated at a select frequency profile as a function of time, and with a carrier signal of about 10,000-12,000 hertz. Advantageously, the subject therapy is augmented via application of light energy to the eye(s), as well as by the application of infrasonic sound waves directly into eyes.

Abstract: An apparatus for and method of enhancing reliability within a cluster lock processing system having a relatively large number of commodity cluster instruction processors which are managed by a cluster lock manager. Because the commodity processors have virtually no system viability features such as memory protection, failure recovery, etc., the cluster/lock processors assume the responsibility for providing these functions. The low cost of the commodity cluster instruction processors makes the system almost linearly scalable. The cluster/locking, caching, and mass storage accessing functions are fully integrated into a single hardware platform which performs the role of the cluster/lock master. Upon failure of this hardware platform, a second redundant hardware platform converts from slave to master role. The logic for the failure detection and role swapping is placed within software, which can run as an application under a commonly available operating system.

Abstract: The invention relates to a convertible roof for a vehicle. More specifically, the invention relates to locking means comprising a traveller which is mounted in a guide rail that is solidly connected to a roof element. The system also comprises: first elastomeric means which are designed to return the aforementioned traveller to an unlocked position; push means which are controlled by the translational movement of a bolt which is mounted to a threaded part of a rod, in order to push the traveller into a locked position against the force of said first elastic means; and at least one locking pin which is mounted to the traveller or the guide rail, such as to co-operate with a complementary locking member when the traveller is in the locked position, said complementary locking member being solidly connected to an adjacent roof element or to the front or rear of the vehicle body.

Abstract: A convertible car seat that can take on a variety of configurations. These include seat, shelf, document case and flat configurations. The convertible seat is made up of two surfaces, one of a seat and one of a backrest. These are supported by two frames which are symmetrical with respect to a horizontal frame. The frames are made of rigid elements. The elements are connected by joints at each end to create a unit of four axles which permit folding the rigid elements to various configurations.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for the recovery of salt from a glycerine process, allowing the salt to be used in a brine solution. A salt settling tank is positioned inline between the foots from a crude still bottom and a foot still. Salt settles to the bottom of the settling tank and into a salt receiver positioned below, while clarified liquid overflows to the foot still. Salt from the salt receiver is then semi-continuously transferred into a salt extractor where the salt is removed from the mother liquor. A condensate is then circulated into the salt extractor and the salt slurry is then stored in a brine storage tank.

Abstract: A shell and tube heat exchanger has at least one baffle to support the tubes within the casing of the heat exchanger, wherein the baffle intersects the inner casing wall along a substantial portion of the arc. The baffle has a bypass through which flows at least a portion of the fluid flowing into the casing and around the baffle. At least a portion of the bypass is outside of the casing. This flow of fluid through the bypass reduces pressure drop through the heat exchanger and also reduces to some extent, points adjacent to the baffles where fluid flow may stagnate.

Abstract: The invention concerns an off-road vehicle, in particular of the amphibious type, having a left wheel-train (6, 7, 8) and a right wheel-train, arranged to propel the vehicle on both land and water, propulsion resources (10) to drive the said wheel trains, and mobile control resources (15) capable of supplying at least one control signal as a function of their position. The said propulsion resources include a first electric motor capable of driving the left wheel-train, a second electric motor capable of driving the right wheel-train, and synchronisation resources (16) to synchronise the two electric motors as a function of the control signal.

Abstract: An actuator for pressing a plurality of circuit contacts carried on a microcircuit package against a plurality of test contacts has a frame having a top surface and a bottom surface facing away from the top surface. The frame has first and second end slots each intersecting the top surface at opposite ends thereof. A loader foot is carried by the frame's bottom surface for applying force to a microcircuit. First and second latch elements, each respectively mounted within the frame's first and second end slots are each shiftable between a latched position and an unlatched position within the frame's first and second slots, each said latch element when in the latched position for gripping an edge of an alignment plate and when in the unlatched position for releasing the alignment plate. An actuator element mounted on the frame's top surface receives manual force and converts the received manual force to force applied to the latch elements to shift the latch elements between the latched and unlatched positions.

Abstract: An apparatus for and method of utilizing an internet terminal coupled to the world wide web to request analysis of data from an existing proprietary data base management system having a dialog-based request format. The user has an assigned security profile specifying the data base management system access privileges permitted. This security profile may be readily changed by a system administrator. The administrator selects the user for whom the security profile is to be changed from a menu. The security profile change is specified on an HTML page and forwarded to the data wizard security service. This service generates script for accomplishing the specified change.

Abstract: A flowmeter has a variable area, vertically-oriented duct through which flows fluid whose flow rate is to be determined. A float in the duct assumes a position in the duct that depends on the flow rate of fluid in the duct. A window is located at an end of the duct in alignment with a longitudinal axis of the duct. A transducer unit projects a light beam through the window and along the axis toward the float. The transducer includes a light sensor that detects light returned by the float by reflection or some other mechanism to the transducer unit. The intensity or other characteristic of the returned light indicates the position of the float in the duct, from which the fluid flow rate may be determined.

Abstract: An apparatus for and method of temporarily, or permanently, saving the current computational data as a table within a legacy data base management system for later use within the current computational service or for use in a following computational service. In particular, the apparatus enables the generation of XML output documents with computational data from more than one source. The DTD, IDT, and other key conversion components may be stored within a repository of the legacy data base management system.

Abstract: The invention concerns a retractable roof for a motor vehicle, comprising at least one front roof element and one rear roof element (4), rigid and able to be moved between a closed position in which they cover the vehicle cabin (2) and a storage position in which they are stored in the rear boot (3) of the vehicle, the rear element being arranged so as to be moved by means of pivoting arms and guided by runners (19) extending in the boot. This roof comprises a first arm (7) articulated transversely to the plane of symmetry of the vehicle, at a first (8) of its ends on the vehicle chassis and at its second end (12) on a first end of a second arm (13) articulated at its second end (14) on the said rear element, also transversely to the plane of symmetry of the vehicle.

Abstract: A method of and apparatus for efficiently managing video programming services by a provider of video on demand services in response to requests from cable television subscribers. The system is controlled by a multimedia application server. Upon receipt of a request, the multimedia application server searches for the most appropriate means of satisfying the request. If the requested program is already being provided, the streaming occurs from the same video server, if capacity is available. If the program already exists in streamable form, it is streamed from that location. If the requested program must be transferred to video server memory, the available space is found to accommodate the transfer or existing programming is swapped out.

Abstract: An apparatus for and method of processing a digital certificate by a legacy data base management system within its legacy security facility. The digital certificate is defined by accepted international standards and is presented to the legacy data base management system after being unpacked and stored within a temporary file. This permits the legacy data base management system to fully utilize and benefit from the digital certificate technology, even though it possesses an incompatible security facility.